FEO Participates to Enhance Electoral Capacity Building

To strengthen collaboration with other electoral management bodies and international organizations, the Fijian Elections Office [FEO] is part of the U.S Election Program [USEP] and Seventh Global Elections Organizations [GEO-7] to observe and learn about the U.S. electoral system.

FEO’s Manager Fijian Electoral Education [FEEC], Asenaca Kolinivala, is part of the 2016 USEP and GEO-7, which is the largest international gathering of election professional of the year with representatives from 90 countries. The combined event is scheduled to take place this month from Sunday 6 to Thursday 10 November.

“It is a privilege for the FEO to be invited to this historic event whereby voters in the United States cast ballots in the 58 quadrennial U.S. presidential election and we offer our thanks to the US Department of State for funding this important capacity building trip,” said Mr. Mohammed Saneem, Supervisor of Elections.

On Election Day, Ms Kolinivala will be deployed to polling sites throughout Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia to witness the American voting process. While on election night, attend a reception honoring Chafik Sarsar, president of Tunisia’s Independent High Authority for Elections with the 2016 Joe C. Baxter Award, and to be part of an election watch party with live televised coverage of elections results.

The program will further strengthen FEO’s technical expertise on election technology, voter identification, public opinion, social media, campaign finance, the role of media in elections, accessibility for persons with disabilities and strategies for boosting women’s participation in politics.

The GEO-7 conference, which is a leading international forum for elections professionals to network and share democratic best practices will build technical discussions of interest and focus on the use of data and technology to improve transparency and accountability.

GEO partners include the Association of European Election Officials, IFES, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa, Mexico’s National Electoral Institute, the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division and the United Nations Development Programme.

The event is hosted by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems [IFES], which brings together election officials, parliamentarians and diplomats from around the world to observe and learn about the U.S. electoral system as well as discuss elections and voting from comparative international perspectives.